Thursday, September 24, 2009

Crate training, best method to house train your dog?

Crate training is a very controversial topic for most of the dog owners. Some think it is a great idea, others think it is cruel and some treat it like a necessity. Whatever you think, crate training is a must in most of the cases. If you go out of the house for long and have to leave your dog alone, leaving him inside a crate guarantees his and your house security.

Most of the people think that crates are cruel devices, that were developed by emotionless dog owners who want to get rid of their dogs for a longer periods of time. And yes it is partially true. However crates don't have to be viewed as a prison by your dog. Even more in majority of cases, when you do the crate training right, your dog will love his crate and spend time in it even when he doesn't have to.

Creating a dog-friendly crate.

Creating a good crate is very similar to preparing a comfortable den for your dog. Crate has to be spacious enough, for your dog to feel good in it, but it shouldn't be too big, or else he may feel overwhelmed by it. It is important to prepare a comfortable bed and put all of the dogs toys inside the crate. This way you make sure, he will view his crate as his private cosy place to live.

If you are planning to leave your dog for long inside the crate, it is a good idea to leave water, food and also a place for him to eliminate inside the crate. However elimination spot will require a bigger crate as most of the dogs won't eliminate in the place they live.

Beginning of the training.

At first, you have to make spending time inside of the crate a fun experience for your dog. Don't ever push your dog inside the crate or force him to enter in any way. This will do more harm than good, he will think of his crate as a prison and won't like it. This is the sure-fire way to stress your dog and make him unhappy.

For first couple of days, you should spend time with your dog inside the crate, with doors open, playing and having fun. When you think he is feeling comfortable there, just increase the time he spends inside the crate. After about a week, you can start closing him, at first be close to him and have fun, don't allow him to feel lonely or uncomfortable. With time, just sit in the room the crate is located in, this way you will reinforce, that him sitting inside a crate isn't anything bad.

Each day, increase the time, your dog spends inside the crate, at pace of 15-20 minutes more each day. When you see, your dog is feeling very comfortable inside his crate, some dogs won't like to leave it, you can begin to leave him alone. It is important to stay close to your dog, so you can come and have fun with him if he becomes afraid or shows any symptoms of discomfort.

As the time passes by, and your dog is clearly starting to like his crate, you can simply leave him alone in it. If you have done everything right, he will be feeling inside his crate like at home, his personal room, if you like.

Crate training is a very delicate process, you have to adopt a very careful attitude of one step forward and two steps back. this way you can be sure, you won't force anything on your dog and he will feel comfortable throughout the process. You have to remember you are dealing with a living creature and one mistake can create an aversion towards crates for his entire life and this is something you want to avoid.

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